


The Lost City

by JohnAmendAll



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen, Random Unconventional Courtship Generator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-02
Updated: 2014-07-02
Packaged: 2018-02-07 05:17:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1886490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JohnAmendAll/pseuds/JohnAmendAll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kidnapped by a Dalek who won't say why he wants her or where they're going. It's just another day for Jo Grant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lost City

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt generated by the [Unconventional Courtship Random Pairing Generator](http://www.seasip.info/Misc/ucrpg.html):
>
>> 179) The Vanishing by Jana DeLeon  
> Certain death awaits any outsider who enters Cache, a mythical city said to disappear when intruders threaten. But P.I. Dalek Sec won't let the Cajun superstition stop him from going there. He'll do anything to help sexy Jo Grant and close this missing person's case, even admit how attracted he is to his client. But as their investigation deepens, Sec finds himself protecting Jo from the inexplicable terrors of the bayou. This includes the specter taunting them with voodoo — and a shotgun. It seems they may have come too close to Cache and its eerie secrets — and dangerously close to each other.

The white trouser suit, Jo Grant had long since decided, was definitely not the best outfit she could be wearing. But then, when she'd picked out her clothes that morning, she hadn't foreseen that she'd be kidnapped at gunstick-point by a Dalek and forced to wade through miles of hot, humid and foul-smelling swamp. 

As Daleks went, this one seemed a little out of the ordinary. It was black all over, which Jo guessed meant that it was fairly important. It also seemed more inclined to talk than the average Dalek — which was to say, that it might answer one in ten of her questions, rather than none. What it had steadfastly refused to tell her was where they were going, or what might happen where they got there. 

Abruptly, the Dalek came to a halt, so suddenly that Jo bumped into it. 

"Des-ti-na-tion reached," it said. 

"What do you mean, destination reached?" Jo asked. She looked around, but saw only the same vistas of trees, mud, water and reeds. "There's nothing here." 

The eyestalk swung round, nearly hitting Jo in the head. 

"A Brigadoon cir-cuit is in operation," the Dalek said. Its tone sounded almost as if it was trying to give a patient explanation, if that was possible for a Dalek. "I must synchronise with it to gain ac-cess." 

"Well, if you're going to be some time, I'll just empty my boots out again," Jo said. Supporting herself awkwardly against the Dalek's casing, she removed her left boot and tipped out a quantity of muddy water. Carefully, she replaced the boot on her foot— 

Something hit her in the side, knocking her to the ground before she could even scream. A moment later, the report of a gun echoed across the water. 

"Stay down!" the Dalek barked, as Jo tried to get up again. She turned her head to get her face, at least, out of the mud, and saw the familiar shape towering over her. Its dome and midsection were rotating, with the whirr of servos. It must have been the sucker arm that knocked her down, she realised. 

"Shoot at me again, ver-min," the Dalek said, seemingly to itself. Its gunstick twitched restlessly. "Make my day." 

"Can you see who it is?" Jo asked. She tried to raise herself slightly, but the Dalek's sucker arm shot out, pushing her back down into the swamp. 

"Unknown. Scan-ning for—" 

Once again, the crack of a gunshot. 

"Exterminate!" the Dalek screamed triumphantly, and there was a blue flash as it returned fire. "Got you, you little Thal-snog-ger." 

"I've never heard a Dalek call anyone that before," Jo said. "Please can I get up now?" 

The sucker was grudgingly withdrawn, and Jo clambered to her feet, dripping. 

"You wouldn't believe this jacket used to be white, would you?" she said. "Who was it shooting at us? Did you see?" 

"Human, male, me-di-um height," the Dalek said. "Face covered with fabric." 

"Hang on! You mean he was the same man who was following us before! The one dressed as a ghost." 

"It is... pos-sible." 

"And now you've killed him." Jo folded her arms. "That wasn't very sensible, was it? I thought you wanted to interrogate him first." 

She wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but perhaps the Dalek's eyestalk drooped by a few degrees. 

"Standard rules of engagement took pre-ce-dence," it said. 

Jo gave it a severe look. "You mean you got carried away. And now we're lost in the middle of a swamp and you've just killed the only man who might have had an idea—" 

The air shimmered, and the marsh in front of them _changed_. It was like looking at a picture of a vase and seeing it suddenly become two faces. Somehow, without altering in any way, the maze of trees and channels in front of them had become a city. An overgrown, half-ruinous city, but a city nonetheless. 

"Brigadoon synchronisation com-plete," the Dalek said, with perhaps a hint of smugness. "We shall now en-ter the city." 

It began to glide forward, Jo once more hurrying along in its wake. 

"There's something I don't understand," she said. "You saved my life. Daleks don't do that. You must want me for something really important." 

The Dalek made no answer. 

"I wonder what it can be?" Jo fell silent briefly. "Something I can do but you can't. I know! You want me to seduce someone. Is that it?" 

Again, the Dalek showed no sign of having heard her. 

"Well, I don't see how it's going to work," Jo went on. "I must look like some sort of swamp monster by now. I couldn't seduce anyone like this." 

The Dalek finally halted. Its eyestalk swung round to face her, and then carefully looked her up and down. 

"Daleks have no con-cept of seduction," it eventually said. 

Jo patted it on one of its shoulder slats. "Well, now I _know_ you're lying."


End file.
